“This” was serving Christ- in a way that is effective and faithful. From my side of life’s tapestry, I see knots of fear, threads of temptation, unfinished business, incomplete understanding, and yes – blots of sinfulness. The news of the moral compromise of many men was a factor in my fearful doubt, too. Do you ever feel that way about finishing the Christian journey well, honoring the One who called you?

In my meditation and prayer, the Spirit brought this passage to mind that renewed my hope and courage. “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, NIV) Christ Jesus is Sufficient for my every need, greater than my sinful nature, with grace to keep me. When this truth took hold of my mind I could only worship and give thanks.

Later in the same day as I felt my own sense of weakness so acutely, the Lord saw fit to prompt two people to tell me of ways in which they had found my life of value in their own Christian journey. That affirmation was like an exclamation mark at the end of that verse – “He has made us competent!”

Louie Giglio in his book, Goliath Must Fall, takes another look at an old familiar story. David meets the giant on the battlefield, pulls out his slingshot, and drops the champion dead. In his valor, inspired by God’s honor being challenged, David won a victory for all of God’s people. Usually this story is presented as a text to encourage us to meet our own giant with faith and courage. Giglio takes a different view. He brings the Gospel to the story and asks us to consider that when we face a giant of addiction, failure – any besetting sin- that we remember it is not our courage that wins the battle. Jesus is our David who went to battle for us, taking down our giant through His death on the cross. We can enter into victory because the battle with sin and Satan is already won on our behalf.

Christ is sufficient! That does not mean there is nothing for us to do. There is faith to be exercised, there are disciplines to be practiced that put His grace and goodness in operation in us, but it is not our perfection that saves us. It is His perfect work on our behalf. That is probably not a new idea to you. It was not for me, either. It is a powerful truth that we cannot forget.

You can do this! And, I can, too. Now, will we take the strength of Jesus and live confidently?

Meditate on this word from the Word for a few moments and regain confidence – not in Self, but in our Savior. “With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. … Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. … If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (2 Corinthians 3:12, 4:1,7 The Message)

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O Come All Ye Faithful

O come all ye faithfulJoyful and triumphantO come ye O come ye to BethlehemCome and behold HimBorn the King of angels

Yea Lord we greet TheeBorn this happy morningJesus to Thee be all glory giv’nWord of the FatherNow in flesh appearing